Saturday, January 16, 2010

Yesterday was the best day I've had in a long time. It happened to be our 27th wedding anniversary, and Norm won tickets to the pairs short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Fortunately for Spokane, the championships are taking place here in our beautiful lilac city.

We were one of the first 1,000 spectators to come in to the arena, so we got special radios that allowed us to listen to commentators on two different channels. We learned so much about the new scoring system.

What a great time! It will be so fun to watch the finals on T.V., with the special experience we had witnessing the short program. We were right above the "Kiss and Cry" area, close to Scott Hamilton, who was there as a commentator for NBC.

All of the people around us were so nice! We passed our radios on to others who were going to be attending more events throughout the week.

Both before and after the event we wandered around downtown, soaking in the atmosphere. Spokane is certainly putting its best face on for this event. We wandered into the Davenport Hotel, which is hosting all of the skaters, coaches, media people, etc. You could just sit in this breathtaking lobby and watch all of the major players come and go. I love experiencing the ambiance of that lovely hotel. It had all of the major rooms open for view: the Elizabethan Room, the Ballroom, the Marie Antoinette Room. Most of the time these rooms are locked, but they are on display now. This hotel is such a treasure. I'm so thankful that it was restored.

What a gift of a day!

I also found this picture from New Years. I thought you might enjoy it.

Friday, January 1, 2010

We joined several friends at the White House which is a wonderful Greek restaurant in Post Falls, Idaho. We ate Turkish cigars, garlic filled hummus, garlic prawns, incredible yummy lamb stuff, and much, much more.

And...

were treated to muscle defying belly dancing,

And...

at midnight, we were all given shots of whiskey (Norm and I declined), and plates. At the appointed hour we all got to throw our plates and smash them!! No insurance worries in Post Falls, Idaho apparently. Then everyone (including Norm and I), danced perilously on top of broken shards of ceramic plates.